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Steve, o Steve
A recent article in several popular news sources recounts the story of a security robot at The Washington Harbour commercial district, affectionately called Steve, that drove itself into a water fountain. The water feature is at the bottom of a few short steps that start at floor level – without a planter or bench to serve as a casual barricade. The poor little robot was just rolling along, watching things, and the floor dropped out from under it.
Dear Reader,
A recent article in several popular news sources recounts the story of a security robot at The Washington Harbour commercial district, affectionately called Steve, that drove itself into a water fountain. The water feature is at the bottom of a few short steps that start at floor level – without a planter or bench to serve as a casual barricade. The poor little robot was just rolling along, watching things, and the floor dropped out from under it. I wonder if any sight-impaired people have fallen at this spot, although a well-handled cane would presumably give some indication of a change in the vertical dimension. I also wonder if a clear-sighted but absent-minded pedestrian with a tendency to look in all directions and not necessarily straight ahead (like the author of this column) could have eventually fallen prey to the same water trap.
The picture accompanying the article shows the robot, which has a tin-can-like R2D2 morphology, "face" down in the water, attended by a maintenance official, with a few shoppers gathered around snapping pictures. I felt a certain kinship with the robot, knowing that it could have been me.
[...]
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